Chick-fil-A opening outside Phillipsburg Mall later this month

View full sizeThe signs are up at the soon-to-open Chick-fil-A restaurant outside the Phillipsburg Mall.Express-Times Photo | STEPHEN FLOOD

The signs are up, but the sandwiches won’t be served until later this month.

Chick-fil-A plans to open its newest local restaurant March 27, the fast-food chain announced this week in a news release.

The site is outside the Phillipsburg Mall in the footprint previously occupied by Pizza Hut, which closed last year.

Chick-fil-A, known for its chicken sandwiches, joins a number of fast-food offerings in front of the mall along Route 22. It’s situated near a Taco Bell and Panera Bread. A Sonic Drive-In also opened its first Warren County restaurant along the stretch in 2010.

Chick-fil-A already has a presence in the region. The chain operates restaurants on Route 248 in Lower Nazareth Township and in the Lehigh Valley Mall in Whitehall Township. The Lower Nazareth restaurant frequently sponsors community and family programs; it was honored in 2011 by the Nazareth Area Chamber of Commerce.

A contest will coincide with the March 27 opening of the Phillipsburg Mall restaurant, the chain said in the news release.

A grand prize of one free Chick-fil-A sandwich meal every week for a year will be awarded to the first 100 customers in line when the restaurant opens at 6:30 a.m. that day, the release says.

A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for at 9 a.m. the following day.